"You... you're still as observant as ever!"
Hearing Miyuki's words, Kuramochi's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
"Sometimes, looking too closely isn't necessarily a good thing!
That's something Sendou said!" Miyuki added with a smile.
"You bastard, have you been assimilated by him or something?" Kuramochi cursed despite himself.
"Do I really resemble him that much?
Then I really should thank you!!"
"I wasn't complimenting you!!!"
"But that guy's amazing, isn't he?"
"Tch!" Kuramochi found himself unable to argue.
"Sawamura went and sat off by himself, didn't he?" Kuramochi said as they walked down the suburban path.
The two had not gone out to practice together. They were returning after practice!!
Miyuki followed closely behind, his attention clearly having shifted to that matter.
"Didn't you see Sendou sitting right next to him?" Miyuki knew Kuramochi meant Sawamura separating himself from the others, but he still refuted him with a grin.
However, after Kuramochi put on a fierce expression, he said nothing more.
"Then... he really is angry because we couldn't keep scoring, right?"
"Who knows?!" Miyuki smiled.
"Tch!"
"But... it always feels like he's behind us, knocking on our backs and urging us forward!" Seeing Kuramochi's patience nearing its limit, Miyuki finally spoke seriously.
"Right?!!"
"It was rare for him to shine so brilliantly both pitching and batting—almost five innings without letting anyone get on base, and two trips to the plate, reaching base both times and getting one hit. When he hit it, it was a double!"
No one could say anything about that!!" Miyuki sighed.
"If I could've hit a Home Run there, I could've changed the situation!!
...Damn it!!
And that goes for Sendou too!!!
We couldn't give him any effective support!!
Again and again, with no one on base and no outs, with the count against him, he